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Bernheim Forest

Even though I have only been there twice, Bernheim Forest holds a special place in my heart. I love the lakes, the flowering trees, the various gardens, the prairie and the Canopy Treewalk. Its a very peaceful and relaxing place to spend an afternoon.

Jon and I headed there with hiking on our minds. Bernheim has several hiking trails, but most are very short in distance. Then, there is the Millennium Trail which is 13.3 miles in length. We were not up to that one on this day, so we decided to go with the 2.0 Jackson-Yoe Loop.

Trail head.

Right near the beginning of the trail, out of nowhere we encountered two clearly spooked dear. They were charging straight at us at full force. Jon started snapping his fingers loudly and just as the one deer was about two feet in front of us, it quickly steered to the right falling down in the process. We both stood there kind of in shock. You see deer on trails all the time, but this was intense. The deer had been in a section where the trail was on three sides of them. They must have heard other people and jetted in a different direction which just happened to be where we were on the trail.

The rest of the trail was not nearly as exciting. I’m sure this trail is beautiful when all the trees and grass are green, but right now, everything is still a dull brown. This trail is listed on the trail guide as being one of the more strenuous trails in the Forest. There were a few inclines that were difficult, but nothing major for most people.

The entire trail is clearly marked. Bernheim has gone to great lengths to make sure no one is going to get lost on this trail. At some points, it seemed like nearly every tree along the trail had been marked with a white piece of paper with a nail through it.

After finishing the hike and enjoying a quick lunch in the picnic area of the park, we headed over to the Garden Pavilion and surrounding area to enjoy the flowering trees that appear to be in full bloom.